Monday, December 28, 2009

Christmas is over and I haven't recovered yet....I'm behind once again. I have a "To Do" list a mile long and I'm going to start by welcoming my new followers.

Hello and Welcome,Arantxa from Las miniaturas de los Talis,Caro-chan, a fashion blogger with an interesting blog name of F*** Yeah Lolita,Kate a wife, mother, artist and miniaturist who is planning on starting her own blog very soon.Leila of the blog Mimos da leila,and to the followers I can't find blogs for, christelhutson, junsku, & Chelsea Saulpaugh.

Saturday, December 12, 2009

I posted a tutorial about how to make Christmas ornaments from polymer clay, on my website. I bought some cute holly leaf craft slices from Angie Scarr Miniatures and this is one of the projects I used them for. They are simple to make, the hardest part was getting the hang of the little "hanger" part, but the more I made, the better I got. I made mine a little big, to fit the craft slice. I used red, green and translucent clay, I really like the way the translucent ones turned out.

Monday, December 7, 2009

I bought these gift boxes last year for $10 at Wal-Mart with the intention of whipping out 3 Christmas themed room boxes a couple of weeks before Christmas. HA! What was I thinking? I doubt that I'll get around to them this year either but I may give it a shot. In the meantime I thought I would share some links to Christmas projects, printables, videos and more.

Remember the patchwork quilts that were popular in the 70's? I have been trying to figure out a way to make one for my 70's dollhouse master bedroom. I'm participating in a fabric swap with an online mini group and I received the swap box last week. Inside I found the perfect piece of fabric for my quilt! No sewing required......Did I mention I don't sew? I don't sew. I cut out some batting and a piece of fabric for the backing, added some lace (also from the swap box) and glued it all together. I used a needle and thread to stitch a little X pattern at the corner of each square to help give it a "hand sewn" pieced together look.

Thursday, December 3, 2009

A couple of years ago I bought a vintage dollhouse from a friend, her grandparents had put it together sometime in the 70's but never finished it. I had been looking for a house to decorate in a 70's theme, to represent my childhood home. This dollhouse is perfect and I like that it really is from the 70's. My friend also gave me a box of stuff that went with the house, including 2 chairs with a strawberry pattern, not very attractive but authentic 1970's. There was also a magazine in the box called 1,001 Decorating Ideas, also from the 70's. There is a picture in the magazine of a chair that is very similar to the chairs I'd been given. This last May I found a matching chair at The Elegant Dollhouse's annual sidewalk sale/flea mart, in Sacramento California. A few months ago I was in an antique store and hidden in a back corner, I found quite a few pieces of miniature furniture and there was another matching chair! The legs in front are different on this one but I can live with it. I wasn't happy about the green on the chairs, I wanted them to look more like the one in the magazine, it goes with my color scheme better, which happens to be butt ugly 1970's brown. ;) So I got out my brown Crayola marker and colored in all the green on the back of the chair with the mis-matched legs, so I could hide it if my idea didn't work out.

I think it turned out pretty close to the picture, I'm happy with it. Now I just have to hope that my marker can make it through 3 more chairs.

Tuesday, December 1, 2009

This morning around 8 am, I drew the name of the winner of the $10 gift certificate to the Fabulous Farmhouse. I'm sorry I'm late posting this, I had to play catch up this morning with icky real life stuff and I got behind. Ok, on with it!

And the winner is...........
Congratulations Lize! Have fun shopping at The Fabulous Farmhouse! I will send you an email to let you know how to redeem your gift certificate.

Thank you to everyone that participated! It was fun reaching in my hat and picking out a winner, I think I may do this more often!

Saturday, November 28, 2009

Did you all survive Black Friday? If you were brave enough to go out shopping, I hope you found some great deals!

Okay, on to the drawing for a $10 gift certificate to The Fabulous Farmhouse. On Monday, November 30th 2009 at 12am Pacific Standard Time, I will draw the name of the winner. To enter the drawing, leave a comment on this post before 12 am (my time) November 30th 2009. Be sure to pop over to the Farmhouse and take a look at the most Fabulous miniature cakes, cookies, pies, candy, gift wrap and more!

Thursday, November 26, 2009

"May your stuffing be tasty and your turkey plump. May your potatoes and gravy have nary a lump. May your yams be delicious and your pies take the prize. May your Thanksgiving dinner stay off of your thighs."

Wednesday, November 25, 2009

I bought the 4-Pc. Richardson Living Room Set from Hobby Builders Supply for my Vintage 70's dollhouse. The style is similar to what I had growing up, but not the color. I wanted to change the color to a dark brown. I filled a large bowl with hot water and add several cap fulls of Rit liquid dye. I added the furniture and stirred it around. I continued to add cap fulls of dye and stir until I achieved the color I wanted. I expected the furniture to come apart from the hot water melting the glue but to my surprise it all held together. I also achieved the shabbiness I was looking for.

Monday, November 23, 2009

I got a tip from an online friend and fellow blogger, De from De-Lightful Minis, about how to make a miniature salad using artificial plastic snow as the lettuce. I saw a picture of a salad De made and it was so realistic looking, I had to know how she did it. She couldn't remember where she got the tip but she was kind enough to share it, she even sent me a little bag of the artificial snow so I could make my own salads! I mixed a little of the plastic snow with some Kelly Green Gallery Glass paint and a tiny drop of Hunter Green Acrylic paint. I added some some salad cane slices from Angie Scarr's Miniatures and put it all in a bowl made from the bottom of an egg carton and tissue paper.

Thursday, November 19, 2009

Hello Everyone! November marks the 3 year anniversary of my website, My Small Obsession! I really wanted to start blogging months ago.........procrastination has gotten the better of me! Life also keeps getting in the way and I have had some technical difficulties lately too. Last week, in preparation of launching this blog, I was finishing some updating to my website and,....POOF! My entire home page was suddenly blank! It took me almost a week to put it all back together! I'm still not finished updating the directory. I've decided that if I don't just jump in and get this blog started, it's never going to happen. It's time to up my game and really give this blogging thing a try. Please hang in there with me!

I will be posting about the current projects that I'm working on, miniature news and updates to my website. I have expanded the Book Store and I have re-opened the Miniatures Barter Board again to accept members. I've had difficulty with spammers in the past and there just doesn't seem to be a way to keep them from trying to join. So, I have created a questionaire that will have to be filled out in addition to registering, before any application will be accepted. I apologize for the extra step but it will make it easier for me to weed out the riff raff. Also, members can now post pictures on the board, all you need is a Photobucket account!

For the month of November I have added a special video tutorial section, featuring The Garden of Imagination creating a miniature Thanksgiving dinner from polymer clay. I have been working on creating more free printables, free projects and trash to treasure tips, I'll be adding them soon. Last but not least, I'm holding a drawing this month in honor of my website's anniversary. The winner will receive a $10 gift certificate to The Fabulous Farmhouse! I will post more information about the drawing later so don't forget to "Follow Me" so you don't miss it!